When it comes to communication, for most, the first way we learn how to communicate is through our ability to speak and listen. A language is an integral part of a person 's life and for a community. Languages are spread across the world, with an estimated 6,500 spoken languages used today. These languages range from Mandarin Chinese, with over a billion people in the world speaking it, to one of the 2,000 languages with less than a thousand speakers left, such as the language of Seri in Mexico. This wide variety of languages covers the Earth, and many people argue that the loss of any language is extremely important as it resembles the loss of a culture, identity, beliefs, and values. The importance of keeping a language alive is overblown,
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There is a valid argument that the extinction of a language will result in the loss of cultural ideas and traditions. This is mentioned in the article “Vanishing Voices” when Russ Rymer mentions that small languages “provide keys to unlock the secrets of nature, because their speakers tend to live in proximity to the animals and plants around them, and their talk reflects the distinctions they observe. This is probably the worst part of losing a language, and it will happen. The loss of culture has always happened and it will never stop. The globalization of the world has only made it easier for us to recognize the loss of culture as before, isolated civilizations had no means of communication such as phones and the internet. Before, we didn’t think language extinction was as important as it is today, simply because people did not know about the languages that were disappearing. This increased awareness is a product of the increased worldwide communication, from tv’s to the internet, people are getting a greater sense of connectivity. This is talked about in a research article from Stig Hjarvard in his paper “The Globalization of Language” where he states that “English has become the lingua franca of the global network: where the TCP/IP protocol secures technical communication between computers via the internet, English is the “protocol” for oral and written …show more content…
This is a main cause for the death of languages, where elders must pass down their language to the next generation. This is becoming increasingly difficult as the next generation sees the opportunities in front of them, as the major languages have a much more appealing promise of work, and education. Learning the native tongue of their parents and grandparents is difficult, and time consuming, and many only learn the bare necessities of the language so they can communicate with their elders, or learn more about the culture in which they come from. The trend towards learning more commonly used languages has been called the Globalization of Language and Communication. This means that the world is becoming more connected as it becomes easier to talk to people from around the
There is a valid argument that the extinction of a language will result in the loss of cultural ideas and traditions. This is mentioned in the article “Vanishing Voices” when Russ Rymer mentions that small languages “provide keys to unlock the secrets of nature, because their speakers tend to live in proximity to the animals and plants around them, and their talk reflects the distinctions they observe. This is probably the worst part of losing a language, and it will happen. The loss of culture has always happened and it will never stop. The globalization of the world has only made it easier for us to recognize the loss of culture as before, isolated civilizations had no means of communication such as phones and the internet. Before, we didn’t think language extinction was as important as it is today, simply because people did not know about the languages that were disappearing. This increased awareness is a product of the increased worldwide communication, from tv’s to the internet, people are getting a greater sense of connectivity. This is talked about in a research article from Stig Hjarvard in his paper “The Globalization of Language” where he states that “English has become the lingua franca of the global network: where the TCP/IP protocol secures technical communication between computers via the internet, English is the “protocol” for oral and written …show more content…
This is a main cause for the death of languages, where elders must pass down their language to the next generation. This is becoming increasingly difficult as the next generation sees the opportunities in front of them, as the major languages have a much more appealing promise of work, and education. Learning the native tongue of their parents and grandparents is difficult, and time consuming, and many only learn the bare necessities of the language so they can communicate with their elders, or learn more about the culture in which they come from. The trend towards learning more commonly used languages has been called the Globalization of Language and Communication. This means that the world is becoming more connected as it becomes easier to talk to people from around the